Usage conditions may apply for digital images, video, and sound recordings linked within SOVA collections. While digital content may be restricted, SOVA collection descriptions and catalog records are available CC0 for re-use. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Emmet Gowin
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.gowin10
- Creators:
-
Gowin, Emmet, 1941-Goodyear, Frank H., III, 1967-
- Dates:
-
2010 May 13-14
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
7 ItemsSound recording, master: 7 memory cards (6 hr., 3 min.)secure digital1.25 in.81 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
Interview of Emmet Gowin, conducted by Frank Goodyear for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at the Gowins' home in Danville, Virginia, on May 13-14, 2010.
Scope and Contents
Gowin speaks of his upbringing and how he decided to become a Quaker; his relationship with his sister, who had Down Syndrome; growing up in Chincoteague, VA and other Virginia towns; going to business school in Richmond; meeting his wife Edith; transitioning from Richmond Professional Institute to work with Harry Callahan at the Rhode Island School of Design; learning different techniques of printing pictures; studying with Frederick Sommer; the making and reception of his early family photographs of Edith, the Boohers, and his children; other photographic projects including the Mount St. Helens eruption, photographs in the Middle East, Europe, and South America, nuclear test sites in the western U.S., and his collection of moths; teaching at Princeton University; his attitude toward Postmodernism; how the Light Gallery began; and his artistic influences, including Callahan, Sommer, Robert Frank, Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans, Eugéne Atget, Hercules Seghers, William Blake, and others. Gowin also recalls Peter Bunnell, Grant Gentry, Fazal Sheikh, Peter McGill, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Elaine Pagels, and others.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Interviewee Emmet Gowin (1941- ) is an educator and photographer in Newtown, Pa. Gowin photographed Edith and Rennie Booher and extended family. Interviewer Frank H. Goodyear (1967- ) was at the time of the interview the associate curator of photographs with the National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, D.C.
Administration
Sponsor
Funding for this interview was provided by the Brown Foundation.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
This interview is access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Keywords
Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
---|---|---|---|
Educators -- New Jersey -- Interviews | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Photographers -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Sound recordings | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Interviews | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions